Ajit Agarkar is another player who destinated to at fringe of Indian team waiting for chance.Agarkar took 50 wickets in just 23 over in ODI matches. It is a is a record. Agarkar scored fastest 50 runs just in 21 balls in one of the ODI. It is a record. Agarkar took 200 wickets in just 133 ODI matches & completes 1000 runs, it is a record.
Ajit Agarkar’s Profile
Kapil Dev’s illustrious era when came to an end, cricket critics thought that young Ajit Agarkar in waiting, would be his ideal replacement. Ajit Agarkar possessed all the ingredients that Kapil Dev possessed. He was a fast bowler all rounder like Kapil Dev. He could productively bat at 7 / 8 down or open the innings like Kapil Dev. He could be defensive or aggressive with the bat like Kapil, but lacked consistency which Kapil had. That made the difference and he could not be regular to Team India.
Ajits Agarkar’s Personal Information
Ajit Agarkar was born on 4th December 1977 in Bombay or present Mumbai, Maharashtra. His full name is Ajit Balachandra Agarkar. He was brought up by his grandparents at Shivaji Park. Shivaji Park has a reputation for producing fleet of classic Mumbai cricketers some of them played for the country. He studied in Ruparel College in Matunga, Mumbai. He is married to Fatima and is blessed with a son.
He bats with right hand and bowls fast medium with right arm. He is reasonably good fielder.
He plays for India, Mumbai, Middlesex and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Ajit Agarkar’s International Cricket Career:
Ajit Agarkar was generally evaluate with Kapil Dev for his fast bowling and attacking stroke play. He lacked consistency in his performance. This has resulted in missing many matches both at Test and ODI matches at International level.
Ajit Agarkar’s Test Career:
Ajit Agarkar made his Test debut on 7th October 1998 at Harare. The match was between India and Zimbabwe. He bowled along with J Srinath as opening bowler on his debut match. In the first inning Agarkar bowled 16 over conceding 40 runs taking 1 wicket. His econ was 2.5 In the second inning he bowled 18 over took 1 conceding 60 runs at econ of 3.33. His bating was not so good. He scored 4 and 5 runs in first and second innings respectively. This match was won by Zimbabwe by 61 runs
Ajit has played is last Test in January (13-17) 2006 at Lahore. The match was against Pakistan
He bowled along with IK Pathan as opening bowler. He bowled 24 over, took 2 wickets conceding 122 runs at econ 5.08. This was high scoring match and match was drawn. Sehvag was the man of the match.
In total, he played 26 test matches, scored 571 runs in 39 innings at an average of 16.79. He made only one century and 3 fifties in his test career as on now. His highest score was 109, not out. At 5 occasions he remained not out. His strike rate was 52.82.
In Test career Agarkar was credited for his best performance in Australia Test Series 2003 at Adelaide Oval. He took 6 wickets for just 41 runs. This match was won by India. This win was special to India as India won this match after 20 years in Australia. The other series remembered for Ajit agarkars’s performance is the series against Australia of 1999.
Ajit Agarkar’s ODI Career:
Ajit Agarkar made his One Day International debut on 1st April 1998 at Kochi. The match was between India and Australia. In his debut he took the only wicket of formidable wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist. He bowled only 5 over. In this match Sachin Tendulkar took 5 wickets conceding 32 runs in 10 over.
His last appearance in ODI was in Sep 5, 2007. The match was between England and India at the Oval. In this match he bowled 8 over and took one wicket for 63 runs.
In over all he played total of 191 ODI matches. He was opportune to bat only in 113 innings. In these innings he scored 1299 runs and remained not out on 26 occasions. In ODI he made 3 fifties and his highest score was being 95 runs. His strike rate was 80.62.
Ajit Agarkar’s performed in ODI matches is considered as better than that of Test matches. In ODI though he was costly but bagged wickets regularly. His contribution with bat and ball made India to win matches.
His performance in season 2005 - 2006 was very good and Team India largely relayed on his bowling for success. During the India’s tour of West Indies in 2006 for ODI series his performance was excellent
Ajit Agarkar’s Domestic Career.
First Class Career;
His made first class debut in 1996-97 and his last first class match in November 2008. This match was Mumbai Vs Delhi at Delhi.
In his career he played 78 first class matches scoring 2220 runs at an average of 26.11. In these matches, he made 2 centuries and 10 half centuries. He bowled 2229 over and took 233 wickets at an average of 29.35. He took 5 and above 5 wickets at 10 occasions.
List ‘A’ Career:
He made ‘List A’ debut in 1996/97 and his last ‘List A’ was against Tamil Nadu at Visakhapatnam on Apr 4, 2008.
In 254 ‘List A’ matches he played, he scored 2099 runs at average of 17.63. His best score was 95 runs. He bowled 2077 over and took 39 wickets and given away at average of 26.58. Thrice he took more than 5 wickets.
T201 Matches
He made T20I debut against South Africa at Johannesburg on Dec 1, 2006 and his last
T20I was against New Zealand at Johannesburg on Sep 16, 2007.
He played 4 matches. In four matches he scored only 15 runs and bowled 6.3 over took 3 wicket giving away 85 runs.
Twenty20 Matches;
Twenty20 debut was in South Africa v India at Johannesburg on 1st December, 2006
His last Twenty20 in Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals at Kolkata, May 20, 2008
He played 17 Twenty20 matches. In 17 matches he scored 75 runs at an average of 9.37 and bowled about 37 over, took 16 wickets giving away 378 runs.
Special Records
Early in his career, Agarkar set a world record for the fastest 50 wickets in One Day International matches (ODIs) in just 23 matches, Hence breaking the record of shane warne.Agarkar holds indian record of scoring fastest 50 in ODI, he scored 50 of 21 balls. Agarkar also holds another world ODI record, which is the quickest in terms of least number of matches taken to take 200 wickets and complete 1000 runs. Agarkar achieved this feat in 133 matches breaking the previous record held by South African Shaun Pollock, who accomplished this feat in his 138th match.
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